Are Pakistanis and Indians biologically the same?

Daily

I don't know much about this except the majority of pakistanis are muslims and the majority of indians are hindu. Are they the same apart from their cultural and religious differences? Or were they descended from the same people? Or are they completely different?

Mayberry

One eats curry, the other cleans 'curry'

Slartibartfast

There was no Pakistan until the Indian independence. The Muslims thought it would be impossible to live in the Hindu dominated India without the Empire keeping things in order.

So Ghandi had to make a choice, either they partition a small section of India for the Muslims or the stick with being coolies.

He chose the former thinking that one day the two sides will eventually settle their differences and merge.

Negrophobe

It was argued that in terms of cranio-facial structure and limb proportions, they were metrically Caucasoid and of Indo-European origin (based on the available linguistic/philological evidence). In the same manner, it was also argued by a number of late nineteenth and twentieth century anthropologists, that the peoples of the Horn of Africa, such as Somalis and Ethiopians, were substantially Caucasoid in terms of racial stock; for example, the great American anthropologist Carleton S. Coon argued that North eastern Africans were only partially of Mediterranean origin, with some individuals being of full Caucasoid race. However, despite Negroid influence in terms of skin pigmentation and hair texture, these North eastern African tribes also possessed cranio-facial features and body limb proportions similar to those of other Indo-European and Semitic peoples, meaning that many of these people could be classified as members of the Mediterranean sub-race. Coon also argued that northern Indians were also partially of Mediterranean Caucasoid race, with strong Veddoid or Australoid affinities. In 1958, Coon wrote:

Our area, from Morocco to Afghanistan, is the homeland and cradle of the Mediterranean race. Mediterraneans are found also in Spain, Portugal, most of Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean islands, and in all these places, as in the Middle East, they form the major genetic element in the local populations. In a dark-skinned and finer-boned form they are also found as the major population element in Pakistan and northern India.

A 1962 passage from his writings demonstrates his uncertainty.
[T]he racial history of southern Asia has not yet been thoroughly worked out, and it is too early to postulate what these relationships may be... shall leave the problems of Indian physical anthropology in the competent hands of Guha and of Bowles.

However, the latest evidence of modern genetic research shows that the peoples of both north and south India are of mixed Caucasoid/Mongoloid/Australoid racial ancestry, this can be seen just by looking at their face also, they consist of an autochthonous sub-Gangetic base which has been gradually combined, through a series of population expansions and the historical migrations of various immigrants, with west Eurasian and East Asian elements.

In the The history and geography of human genes (1994), Cavalli-Sforza et. al. argued that the peoples of the Indian subcontinent were genetically Caucasian, with some Australoid-Negrito admixture; he determined that they were about three times closer to western Europeans than to east Asians. This was directly challenged by Kivisild et. al. (2000), who argued that although the admixture studies and genetic distance trees based on classical genetic markers of Cavalli-Sforza et. al. had previously ascertained the underlying Caucasoid genetic structure of the peoples of the Indian sub-continent, the complete absence of mtDNA macrohaplogroup M amongst Europeans, a series of lineages which comprise over 60% of Indian mtDNA (Thangaraj et. al., 2006), contradict the notion that Indians should be classified as members of the Caucasoid race. However, it must be noted that Indians do share mtDNA U and R1a1 in common with Western European populations; another lineage, Y-DNA haplogroup L, is shared by Indians with other Central Asian populations, but is found in very low frequencies amongst European Mediterranean populations. According to Kivisild et. al. (An Indian Ancestry: a Key for Understanding Human Diversity in Europe and Beyond, 2000):

The absence of haplogroup M in Europeans, compared to its equally high frequency among Indians,eastern Asians and in some Central Asian populations is inconsistent with the 'general Caucasoidness' of Indians. Any relationship between Indians and 'Caucasoids' must therefore be based on qualitative and quantitative data on genetic markers common to Europeans and Indians.

Cordaux et. al. (2004), in a paper entitled Independent Origins of Indian Caste and Tribal Paternal Lineages, examined both Y-chromosomal variation in both Indian castes and tribal populations. They found that upper caste Indians are similar genetically to west Eurasians, but that lower caste Indians have more in common with (central and east) Asians:

The evidence shows that Y chromosome admixture was limited in north Indian caste groups and more pronounced in south caste groups. A possible explanation for nous this geographic discrepancy is that the caste system comprised four classes in north India, whereas a fifth class was introduced in south India to integrate local people (those formerly called “untouchables”) in the caste system. This view finds support in that in south India, lower caste groups are more similar to Asians, whereas higher caste groups are more similar to west Eurasians.

Cordaux et. al. (2004), in a paper entitled Independent Origins of Indian Caste and Tribal Paternal Lineages, examined both Y-chromosomal variation in both Indian castes and tribal populations. They found that upper caste Indians are similar genetically to west Eurasians, but that lower caste Indians have more in common with (central and east) Asians:

The evidence shows that Y chromosome admixture was limited in north Indian caste groups and more pronounced in south caste groups. A possible explanation for nous this geographic discrepancy is that the caste system comprised four classes in north India, whereas a fifth class was introduced in south India to integrate local people (those formerly called “untouchables”) in the caste system. This view finds support in that in south India, lower caste groups are more similar to Asians, whereas higher caste groups are more similar to west Eurasians.

Watkins et. al. (2008) study , Genetic variation in South Indian castes: evidence from Y-chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal polymorphisms confirms this:
For 32 lineage-defining Y-chromosome SNPs, Tamil castes show higher affinity to Europeans than to eastern Asians, and genetic distance estimates to the Europeans are ordered by caste rank. For 32 lineage-defining mitochondrial SNPs and hypervariable sequence (HVS) 1, Tamil castes have higher affinity to eastern Asians than to Europeans. For 45 autosomal STRs, upper and middle rank castes show higher affinity to Europeans than do lower rank castes from either Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.


Also see this;
http://tanmoy.tripod.com/bengal/races.html

To sum up Indians as we know today are a hybrid of proto-Mongoloids, Caucasoids and Australoids.